Service Advisors: Is It Being Done, Or Is It Being Done RIGHT?

There’s a great divide between going through the motions and getting the job done right. Are your customers getting the best from your staff?

I spent a few years at the service desk of one of the busiest Chevy dealers on the prairies. I was one of six service advisors and when it was busy, it was run-off-your-feet busy, and when it was slow, it was still pretty busy. There were countless days of writing more than 30 work orders per day, and in the throes of the ignition switch recalls, it was for weeks at a time.

Being a service advisor is not an easy position. You’re on the front line and you have to engage with your customers and other staff from the moment you walk in the door to the minute your last customer of the day has left the building. It’s mentally and emotionally exhausting – seldom do you leave your desk for a reprieve, and when you do, you’re paged back for a phone call, a tech with an estimate to sell, or a manager asking why you had to give away an oil change for free. If you’re reading this and you are a service advisor or have been at some time, you know what I mean. If you haven’t held the role, ask a service advisor to confirm its truth.

But that’s the role, and that’s what we signed up for. It’s not a job for the faint of heart and at times you have to have nerves of steel when the going gets tough. There are times when you don’t give a complete effort because you’re tired. You go through the motions, and get frustrated when your actions don’t produce results.

As a service advisor, doing it right is the EASY way. Just going through the motions makes your job exponentially more difficult – your customers are less satisfied, meaning your managers are less satisfied, and to make it all that much worse, your paycheck suffers.